One minute you’re 14 and staring forlornly in the mirror at the pimple on your chin. The next you’re in your forties..
.and doing exactly the same . Sadly, although age might alleviate adolescent anxiety, spots – so often seen as solely a teenage problem – can stick around.
But it’s no longer taboo to talk about them. On Instagram, actor Millie Bobby Brown, 20, recently posted a make-up free selfie of her blemished face revealing her “journey with acne ”. On TikTok, graphic videos of people using #pimplepatches – tiny stick-on plasters that claim to draw out the contents of spots and boast Justin Bieber as a fan – notch up millions of views while on YouTube, American dermatologist Sandra Lee – aka Dr Pimple Popper – has an astonishing 8.
35 million subscribers watching her squeeze patients’ pimples. Dr Sophie Momen, consultant dermatologist at London’s Cadogan Clinic, says even a few spots “can have a huge impact on quality of life and confidence”, and there is “a rise in people seeking treatment” for acne because of the comparison culture that social media fosters: “They have higher expectations of what they want their skin to look like.” So what causes spots? And how can we get rid of the blighters? The science behind spots Pimples happen when tiny holes in the skin – hair follicles – become blocked by an oily substance, sebum, produced in greater quantity by the skin’s sebaceous glands during hormonal changes.
“You start to produ.